Not that I’m religious or anything but saying “Happy Easter” to people does put a nice bounce to my step. The best Easter surprise so far (aside from dozen flutes of mimosas) came from my email inbox. Ania from Warsaw, a fellow talented artsy gamer girl, sent me a photo of this:

I am floored.

Painstakingly beautiful stain-glass versions of WoW character with a complete Warcraft map draped behind it.  I don’t think I even have that much patience to do something exquisite like that.  Ania on the process:

Well, fist i drew on the egg with a graphic pen, the kind that can write on any surface. I drew the continents
and simple character outlines. Than I busted out my acrylic paint and painted the surface.
And last i retouched the contours with the pen again.

So i think the whole thing took about an hour a half maybe more, I was really into it so I’m not sure
I realised a more “realistic” or illustrative style wouldn’t work, or really fit on to the egg.

Also, I love that the Outlands whirl Maelstrom looks like a giant meteorological typhoon.  Reminds me of home a lot.

Thanks so much Ania! You’ve brightened up my Easter Sunday!

Thanks to Virgin Megastore’s OMG-EVERYTHING-MUST-GO sale, I got a pretty good deal on Kid Robot’s Munnies.  Ya know, between the job and my freelancing (and the relentless tooling with my new iPhone), I haven’t had any time to be creative just for fun.   So in honor of the Watchmen movie release, I set some time aside from my busy schedule to make something crafty and Watchmen-related.

Now, I never got into the whole vinyl toy craze so I really had no idea what I was doing.  I’d figure my experience in painting Warhammer 40k figurines would give me an edge.  All in all, I’m pretty happy with my first modded Munny but there’s always room for improvement!

Used: matte gel medium, gouache, color pencils, markers, Warhammer paint with kooky names, and a gold cord that I just fortunately happen to have in my craft box.

I’m not scared of the woodshop- I just don’t trust myself.  I’ve belt-sanded my knuckles twice and accidentally melted a plastic bucket while spot welding.  So of course, I’m impressed by people who just dive right into woodworking and come out with awesome projects and healthy knuckles.

My guildie friend Zander has been working on replicating some of the coolest videogame weapons.  And this is a photo of his recent project:

Holy crap!  It’s a life-like model of the sentry from Team Fortress II!  Look at that candy apple red!  Now this is what it looks like in the game:

If I had attempted to make that, I’m sure I would’ve lost a limb by now.

Cisco officially turned 3 today.  Inspired by all the 2009 Westminster dog show clips I watched today, I figured PJ and I should really treat him as if he just won the coveted Best in Show award!  I decided to bake him a nice little birthday cupcake that’s dog-friendly and extraordinary:

The “cake” base is actually cornbread batter.  I lined the inside of a cupcake mold with a strip of bacon in order to make the bacon “cup.”  As for the faux frosting, I blended the living crap out of some cottage cheese with a bit of vegetable in order to get a frosting consistancy.  Sprinkled some kibble and voila!– an hour of work for a mere 5 seconds of complete obliteration.

Of course I made Otis one too.  I mean, c’mon, it wouldn’t be fair.

I figured there was no better way to spend my Xmas Amazon gift money on getting the highly-regarded Mr. Bento/Ms. Bento lunch pail.  Like Peter Moore, Mr. Bento lunch pails are big in Japan.  It apparently has some amazing temperature abilities powered by baby elephants.  Or something.

Anyways, so recession is affecting our house.  Though we could cut corners and get cheaper dog food for Cisco and Otis, I really can’t.  I’ll feel like a bastard.  They eat the same kibble stuff everyday and never complain.  So I pro-actively decided that *I* am the one who needs to cut corners on meals.  Because lordy lord, the lunch places in uptight San Francisco Financial District are pricey and I am sick of spending at least 8 bucks a day on freaking lunch.  So here I am; a new year, a new lunch pail, and ready to save, save, save.  Here’s a photo of my first Ms. Bento lunch ever:

Left: Enjedra (spiced red lentils with brown rice) with roasted fennel

Bottom: Cornmeal-masala roasted brussel sprouts

Top: Mixed greens topped with pumpkin seeds, dried currants, chopped up medjool dates

This will be our first Christmas together as a mini-family in the new house.

Too bad I don’t really care about Christmas at all!

But now that I am officially a wife and a Dog-Mom, I thought I should at least get into the holiday spirit by at least have something Christmas-y in the house since it’s such a family-oriented holiday. I guess a half-baked Christmas is better than no Christmas.

So I got a fake Christmas tree (and so what if it’s 20 inches tall), and decided to wrap some presents.

And I hate it.

I don’t get gift wrap. All that fuss for basically feeding the garbage can some more trash. You know, I already went through the whole chaotic tempest of Christmas shopping, and I don’t want to spend more money on disposable frilly shit. But armored with a new found taste for Christmas, I decided to do gift wrapping my way.

I used an old issue of The New Yorker, some red masking tape I found in the house, a leftover brown paper bag, and a black marker. I present to you… XMAS GIFT MONSTERS!

Crazy Pajama Cat

Carmen

Robo-Ninja Bunny? Or Jordie Laforge Bunny?

Super Mario Boo-inspired ghost thing

Happy Holidays!

Note: Thanks to my stupidity, I wiped out my site earlier today.  Thanks to Bluehost for helping me out and resolving everything!

Last Saturday night, after Kristeen and Sam told me what their Halloween costumes are going to be (SUPER AWESOME), I got even more frustrated because I just couldn’t come up with anything.  Kristeen suggested Sarah Palin since Patrick can sport a nice First Dude look.  Meh.  Sam thought I should go as something game-related since last year’s costume was such a “huge success.”  So I decided to go as something LittleBigPlanet-related last minute!  Photos of Sunday’s fruits of labor below:

Stay tuned for the finished Sackboy and LittleBigPlanet costume!